One investigation revealed that a quarter of new mothers were abandoned by their midwives during labour, with some left to give birth on the floor or in corridors.

The second found that mistakes deemed so serious they should never happen are being made in hospitals five times a week.

And the third survey said thousands of patients have all but given up trying to secure appointments with their family doctor.

The reports come only a day after the NHS watchdog detailed a catalogue of failings at GP surgeries, including consulting rooms infested with maggots and patients being given dangerous, out-of-date drugs.

Britain’s single-payer system is what Barack Obama and many Democrats want to impose on Americans, whether we like it or not. And once imposed, we’ll get to keep it, whether we like it or not.

A new gay marriage law in Pennsylvania threatens to “coerce” Catholic institutions into changing their core practices and beliefs.

“The Church has been precise, in its moral teachings, in distinguishing between sexual orientation and sexual behavior. It has condemned all forms of hostility to any individual on the basis of her or his actual or perceived sexual orientation,” said Amy Hill, communications director of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference.

“However, the Church also teaches that sexual activity between persons of the same gender cannot be reconciled with its beliefs and doctrines,” she said. “It similarly does not condone heterosexual relations outside of marriage.”

A proposed Pennsylvania bill to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation fails to make this distinction, she said.

If passed, it would force these institutions to toe the gay marriage line despite their religious beliefs. That’s how modern liberalism is. There is no opting out. In modern America, liberals are “live and let live” types as long as you live exactly the way they want you to live. They’re libertarians as long as you snap and obey their mandates. They love enjoying the liberty of telling everyone else what to do.

TIME named Pope Francis its “Man of the Year” for 2013, noting that he has moved the discussion of social issues, and because he has given quotes that sound skeptical of capitalism. TIME may want to reel back its praise for the pope. He has come out with a strong pro-life message for Americans this Christmas.

“Mary’s embrace showed what America – North and South – is called to be: a land where different peoples come together; a land prepared to accept human life at every stage, from the mother’s womb to old age; a land which welcomes immigrants, and the poor and the marginalized, in every age. A land of generosity,” said the Pope.

Emphasis added. Liberals are likely to seize on the “land that welcomes immigrants” riff along with the part about the poor and marginalized. Most Americans do welcome immigrants, we just want them to respect our nation’s laws on their way in. Every nation asks as much, or should. It’s not asking too much of someone who aspires to be American to understand, from the beginning, that we’re a nation of laws.

There is no act more marginalizing than pretending that a living being is a mere wad of tissues.

“Marginalize” is an interesting word. It could be applied to what’s happening to Christian business owners and institutions all over America right now.

Bryan Preston has been a leading conservative blogger and opinionator since founding his first blog in 2001. Bryan is a military veteran, worked for NASA, was a founding blogger and producer at Hot Air, was producer of the Laura Ingraham Show and, most recently before joining PJM, was Communications Director of the Republican Party of Texas.